On Passage of the STEM Jobs Act in the U.S. House of Representatives

Bill Provides Green Cards for Foreign-Born Graduates
with Advanced STEM Degrees and Reunites Families by Providing Visas to Spouses
and Children of Current Green Card Holders

Following
today's passage of the STEM Jobs Act of 2012 (H.R. 6429), the bill introduced
by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) that provides 55,000 green cards for
foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees in the fields
of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), and reunites families by
providing visas to spouses and children of current green card holders, the
Partnership for a New American Economy released the below statement from
Co-Chair Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City:

"It is a promising sign that one of the
House of Representatives' first major legislative actions post-election is to
pass an immigration bill that focuses on attracting and retaining the talented
workforce our economy needs to compete globally. This bill will hopefully begin
a renewed focus on the need to overhaul an immigration system formed in the age
of the typewriter and modernize it for a digital age."

The
Partnership was founded in 2010 to make the economic case that immigration
reform will help grow the economy and create new American jobs. In the past two
years, the Partnership has produced series of reports with research
demonstrating the value of STEM immigration reform to the US economy. The Partnership's
research shows that:

The U.S. is losing out to countries that use immigration laws to
recruitSTEM
workers: Canada offers visas even to STEM workers even before they've
earned their degrees and targets its recruitment efforts directly at foreign
STEM workers in the US who are frustrated by obstacles to staying. UK and
Australia offer ways for STEM grads to stay after graduation so they can find
employment. (Partnership
for a New American Economy, "Not Coming to America," May 2012)

More than 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies were founded by
immigrants or their children. These
include many of America's greatest brands - Apple, Google, AT&T, Budweiser,
Colgate, eBay, General Electric and McDonald's just to name a few- and the
newest leading companies are also more likely to have an immigrant founder. (Partnership
for a New American Economy, "The New American Fortune 500," June 2011)

About the Partnershipfor a New American Economy

The Partnership for a New American
Economy brings together more than 500 Republican, Democratic, and Independent
mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms that will help
create jobs for Americans today. The Partnership's members include mayors
of more than 35 million people nationwide and business leaders of companies
that generate more than $1.5 trillion and employ more than 4 million people
across all sectors of the economy, from Agriculture to Aerospace, Hospitality
to High Tech, and Media to Manufacturing. Partnership members understand that
immigration is essential to maintaining the productive, diverse, and flexible
workforce that America needs to ensure prosperity over the coming
generations. Learn more at: www.renewoureconomy.org.

Explore the globe to see how Mike is impacting people and communities everywhere

In his role as the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, Mike Bloomberg travels to India to highlight the country's economic growth and deliver the keynote address atthe RE-Invest forum in New Delhi.

06.01.2014

The EPA announces its Clean Power Plan, which will impose, with its existing legal authority under the Clean Air Act, carbon pollution standards on existing U.S. power plants for the first time ever.